Yengusa describes her family tree, her village, and its local history. From the age of four, she helped with the housework, including grinding flour, gathering firewood, bringing water, and cleaning. After completing her jobs, she played games with her friends, such as making dolls, swimming in the river, and jumping rope.

When she was a child, during the reign of Emperor Haile Selassie, her father rented land. He grew many crops for use by the family and for trade. Yengusa was the oldest daughter. As there were no boys of a suitable age, she also used to herd the sheep and cattle.

From the age of seven, she learned the Hebrew alphabet, Torah, and Jewish law from Kes Tsfehon Baruch, who set up a study tent in the village. She married at the age of 12 and gave birth to her oldest daughter when she was 15.

Yengusa describes the life of the village women. She notes that pregnant women continued to do the housework, take care of the children, and weed the fields. Yengusa talks about the friendship and mutual responsibility among the women of the village, who helped each other in all areas of life. When disputes arose between women, the older women would mediate and make peace. In cases of disputes between spouses, the mediators were usually the Shemgolach – the elders of the community, who were all men.

Yengusa describes staying in the menstruation house during her monthly cycle and after giving birth. She also describes the preparations before going to the menstruation house, such as grinding flour, making injera, and preparing spices that would be used in the house in her absence. At these times, her oldest daughter, her sister, or her neighbor would come to help with the housework, and her husband, as tradition obliges, was more frequently invited to neighbors’ coffee ceremonies.

In the summer, after the harvest, the neighbors helped each other prepare the grain for the threshing house. When the work was completed, the woman of the house would give thanks by preparing a large feast. In general, women would gather together in different houses to hold coffee ceremonies and spin cotton threads.

Yengusa talks about her mother, who did work that was considered masculine, such as working in the fields. Her mother was also the village midwife and traditional doctor. Yengusa describes the childbirths her mother attended and the illnesses she treated. She describes how her mother instructed her during her pregnancy, childbirth, and raising her children.

Yengusa’s father worked as a farmer, blacksmith, and weaver. He sold his products at the market in the city of Teda. Once when her father went to the market, he took a large sum of money to buy a new gun. Yengusa and her husband met her father at the marketplace and together they went to drink in a tella house (tella was a traditional beer). After Yengusa and her husband left, her father, who stayed there, was robbed and murdered. Yengusa describes his funeral, the investigation that eventually led to the murderers being brought to justice, and life without her father.